Kindling Fire
by Fleeting Eternity
Summary: Deidara faced many tough challenges during his early days of the Akatsuki. If twisted, underhand plots and fathoming the idea of killing people isn't enough, now he's got to deal with what he thinks could be a friendship, or more, if fire permits. SasoDei
1. Chapter 1

_"It's weird...when I lay down by the campfire Sasori-danna and I build at night, I always like to watch the flames. And I've noticed recently that the more I start liking Sasori, or if we actually manage to get along for a day, the higher the flames will rise. But if something happens between us, like we're fighting or not getting along, the flames get a whole lot lower, almost like they refuse to burn at all. And I know that it's most likely all in my head, imagination and whatnot, but this entire ordeal is kind of strange if you ask me, un... Like a simple fire can read how I'm feeling, right? Either way, fires have now become extremely entertaining to observe, and all I'm saying is that I hope there isn't a day when the fire goes completely out and reduces to nothing...I feel like I could actually get a long-lasting relationship here."_

* * *

"I got him," Itachi's voice echoed as he strolled into the Akatsuki hideout triumphantly, a small boy latched to his arm, Sasori and Kisame following close behind. A certain sense of pride radiated from the Uchiha, but everyone knew it was just an act—Itachi never lost in a fight. He got used to never losing. End of story.

A figure emerged from the darkest crevices of the cave, leaving his face partially hidden in the shadows to create a mysterious ambience for the newcomer. "Good job, Itachi. I knew you could recruit him without trouble; he's just a stupid kid."

"I'm not stupid!" the boy replied immediately, looking around aimlessly in the dark to find the voice that was speaking about him.

"You blow stuff up. You're _stupid_. But with proper training from your partner, you should make a fine addition to the Akatsuki." The figure titled its head slightly from the darkness, revealing a larger portion of his face: bright orange hair and strange ringed eyes.

The blonde flinched slightly at the sight of the man, but gathered his courage and continued nonetheless. "No! _You're _stupid! You're obviously too blind to recognize the sheer perfection of my art, un! Criticize my art and you criticize me!"

Without warning, a kunai flashed through the air and soared a mere inch away from the boy's face, leaving him awe-struck and wide-eyed with shock, wondering what had just happened. His breathing shallow, he turned around to see the kunai launched perfectly into the stone wall behind him, a sharp _tang _ringing out as it entered.

"_I'm _stupid? _Me?_" the deep voice echoed. The man took a step closer to the young recruit, lifting up the blonde's chin with his slender fingers so that their eyes met. "_You _were pretty stupid to try and confront me, brat. Your name…it's Deidara, right?"

Deidara turned his head away from the man's touch, an overwhelming feeling of lesser superiority coming over him. "Y-yes, un. And what's _your _name, exactly?"

"Pein. Not that you have the right to know, but you humor me. Now, what village do you come from again? I see you're not wearing your headband…."

"Why do you even ca—!"

"Iwagakure," Itachi answered for him, his patience steadily decreasing with each syllable. "Could we please just skip the introductions and get to the matter at hand?"

Pein looked up at Itachi darkly, beginning to lose his own patience. "Did I ask _you_, Itachi? No, I didn't. Shut your mouth before you receive the same treatment this kid did."

Itachi paused at the sudden affront, but knew he shouldn't argue and went on to apologize. "…Yes, sir. Please excuse me, Leader-sama. It's been a long day."

Pein kept hold of Itachi's gaze for a few moments before turning back to the boy. "Iwa, eh? Hm…no wonder you're corrupt. That place is filled with weirdoes."

Deidara narrowed his eyes at his new boss, trying to analyze his every move. _What's with this guy, un? There's something…something weird about him. Well…besides the obvious. _Oh yes…those piercings…they're a bit of a set-off, aren't they?

"You…you mentioned something about me having a partner a minute ago," Deidara said under his breath, keeping his eyes on the floor, secretly afraid to look at the man before him.

"Yes…what about it? Everyone in the Akatsuki is assigned a partner."

"Well…who is it, un? Who's my partner, I mean?"

"That would be me," Sasori said, stepping toward the pair in the solitude of his puppet. "You were chosen to replace my old partner."

Deidara swallowed, his imagination swirling at all the possibilities of what had happened to Sasori's previous associate. "What…what happened to him, un?"

Sasori huffed out a raspy sigh, rolling his eyes a bit too over-dramatically. "He quit. What a dumbass…he could've been as stupid as you."

The blonde breathed a sigh of relief...good, so Sasori's partner wasn't killed on duty. He felt, if anything, a _bit _safer than when he had first entered. "Wait…he quit? Like…just walked out? I didn't even know you could _quit _the Akatsuki, un!"

"Well, it was a little more complicated than that—"

"Sasori…" Pein warned, holding up a hand to prevent him from speaking. "That's enough. It's none of the kid's business."

"…I wasn't planning on continuing…."

Deidara stood awkwardly in the midst of his superiors as they argued, taking advantage of this distraction to clear his mind and think a little. _Okay…so far it seems that as long as I mind my manners, I should be fine, un. Well…almost fine. Of course I have to be a good fighter so I can stand up for myself; they don't want any wimps and weaklings around here…. _Deidara looked down at the lump of clay rolling around in his hands and frowned. _As great as my art is…it could use some perfecting, un. It will still be my art…but I think an upgrade is needed._

Deidara was snapped out from his thoughts when a sudden grip appeared around his wrist. "AYE!" he yelped, jumping slightly at the surprise.

"Did you hear _anything _I just said?" Pein snapped, leaning in closer to the recruit's face.

Heart pounding, the smart thing for Deidara to do in this scenario was lie. He had his impulsive personality to thank for that ability. "Y-yes, I heard you, un. Sorry, I _was_ paying attention to you, but I was also just…examining my detonation clay."

Pein threw Deidara's wrist from his grasp. "Next time I'm talking to you, I want your full attention, brat…eye-to-eye contact. Well that is…if there _is _a next time. You may not even make it through your first mission alive…" Pein laughed darkly to himself and put a hand to rest on his temple, most likely rethinking if recruiting Deidara to the Akatsuki was a good idea after all.

Deidara bit his lip, still trying to keep his fear hidden behind bravery even though he knew he was doing a poor job of doing so. Death was the last thing Deidara wanted to think about…not that he feared it…but that he wasn't ready to face it. He wasn't one of those classic "I'm too young to die!" enthusiasts…in fact, Deidara was quite the opposite. Deidara had a way of believing that you should be ready to face death, not according to how long you've lived, but how much you've accomplished in life. In essence, he thought that the best time to die isn't when you're old and decrepit, but when you've done everything on this Earth that you possibly could…when you've served your purpose. And in Deidara's eyes, he had not yet fulfilled _anything _according to his purpose. He had quite a long way to go.

"Well, Sasori, you better get going," Pein said, eagerly pushing Deidara toward his new partner.

"The day's still young, Leader-sama. Don't worry, the mission will be completed with plenty of time to spare."

"Mission?" Deidara asked in a tone that predicted a further series of questions would soon be pouring from his mouth. To prevent this further annoyance, Sasori shot out his puppet tail and wrapped it around Deidara's torso and mouth, cutting off his words and lifting him straight up into the air.

"MPH!" Deidara choked, pathetically attempting to wiggle free from Sasori's grasp, his feet kicking to find solid ground.

"Brat, you've already gotten on my nerves enough today…" Sasori said, his patience running dry. He began moving toward the exit of the Akatsuki lair with Deidara still lingering above him. "Just do everyone a favor and shut up; no one wants to hear your annoying voice pounding against their eardrums right now."

"Good luck," Pein said both sarcastically and seriously, moving back to the darker depths of the cave. "Make sure you send a report back to me as soon as possible."

Sasori nodded, exiting with his small, blonde partner without a further word.


	2. Chapter 2

Sasori continued dragging along in his puppet, eyes half-open after hearing nothing but muffled yells and grunts for an hour from his newfound partner. Thinking of a quick solution to shut the blonde up, he tightened Hiruko's puppet tail's grip around the small boy's body—less air equals less lung power, which, in turn, equals less screaming.

Well...it was a good theory.

"MPH! GRHH! MMMMMM!" Deidara shouted in fear, his voice muffled from Sasori's grip.

"Deidara, I'm warning you, if I hear ONE more sound escape from your mouth, I will not hesitate to personally stab you in the chest. Believe me, I'm not doubtful _at all _on the matter..."

Deidara, despite being blue in the face from lack of oxygen, immediately closed his mouth after hearing his master's threat.

Sasori sighed happily, giving a slight smile while enjoying the brief moment of peace. "Wow, you actually listened to me...that's different." Satisfied, he dropped Deidara from his puppet's death strangle and continued trudging on.

Deidara staggered to his feet, breathing in huge gasps of air and grabbing at his throat instinctively. "Wha...what the hell was that for, un! You could've _killed _me! About a minute more of that torture and I would've passed out cold!"

"Damn...I knew I released you too early," Sasori growled. "I actually could've gotten rid of you if I had waited just a little longer...I must be going soft. Well, too bad, I don't like to be kept waiting."

"FFFFF—" Deidara spat out, raising a finger to the air. "You're telling me that you would've been _okay_ with just killing m—!"

"SHH!" Sasori suddenly gestured, encasing Deidara's head in Hiruko's puppet tail once more. He dragged them both into a nearby bush, then leaned in close to his subordinate and whispered, "They're getting closer; you need to stay quiet."

Taking advantage of this opportunity to pull himself from the grip, Deidara asked, "Who? Who's coming?" He lowered himself deeper into the bushes to stay hidden, pushing away the hair from his face and tucking it neatly behind his ear for a better view.

"A few of my spies," Sasori responded in a deep whisper, squinting his eyes to get a closer look. "I have many undercover agents in each village that work for me, reporting back details about their village: recent military plans, new laws, out-of-city visitors, potential enemies, completed missions, and such. I like to stay in touch with what's happening, and most of the time, the information is useful for the Akatsuki."

"Wait..." Deidara said after a few seconds, allowing the newly-discovered information to sink in. "So they...your spies...they just...give you this information _willingly_, un? They'd actually betray their village like that?"

Sasori laughed darkly, shaking his head. "Of course they'd never give me that kind of information willingly! That's why I cast one of my specialty jutsus on them—a jutsu that allows me to control the person under it fully without having them act like a mindless, brain-dead corpse. Basically, that person keeps their personality and recent memory of their life, but performs under my commands without any changes in their average behavior. Understand?"

"So it's similar to how you control your puppets, un?"

"In a way, yes. This jutsu, like my puppets, is another form of control—mind control in this case. But instead of me holding their hand through everything, deciding every single move to make like I do for my puppets, my spies can make their own consecutive decisions, as long as it relates back to the original orders I gave them."

"I see..." Deidara said, unconsciously looking up at the slightly-descending sun. "So if these guys work for you and are under your control...then why are we hiding from them...?"

Sasori shifted his gaze slightly upward, trying to get a better view of the approaching people. "Because sometimes I get a little more than I bargained for."

"...What?"

Grunting, Sasori went on to explain. "I've had a few occasions when one of my spies would come back with a tagalong...someone that isn't my spy. In most cases they were just some moron from my spy's village that noticed something suspicious and decided to follow and see what was going on for themselves. But in the end it doesn't really matter, they just end up getting killed and I gain another puppet. In a way, it's more good than bad...for me, at least. I'm not sure how the victim feels about it." He chuckled darkly, continuing to scan the area around him for any signs of unwanted guests.

Deidara sat there utterly confused, once again trying to get everything straight in his brain. "What exactly to you mean by you 'gain another puppet', un...?"

"Oh that's right...you don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

Sasori smirked, preparing himself to enjoy the shock on that brat's face once he heard about his much loved hobby. "Unlike most shinobi, I'm not a very good combat fighter. I'm not skilled in hand-to-hand fighting, and most ninjutsus are a waste of time in my eyes. My means of defense and offense happens to be one of my favorite things in the world...my art: making puppets."

"You're an artist, too?" Deidara perked up, smiling widely, his face practically glowing. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? It's nice to finally meet a fellow art-enthusiast amongst all this chaos!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up a minute," Sasori growled. "No, unlike _you_, I happen to be a REAL artist. I don't create my puppets simply from wood, I craft them from the bodies of actual once-living people, entitling each one to its own special abilities and traps. You see, the only _true _kind of art is eternal, unlike that shitty exploding clay you throw around like a maniac, daring to call it 'art'."

Deidara clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, his face steadily turning deeper shades of red out of embarrassment and anger. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME, UN?" he screamed. "You...you're just _messed up_! I respect your view on art being eternal, even if it's the complete opposite of mine, but _killing people _solely for the purpose of turning them into weapons that you call _art_? And worst above all, now you're criticizing MY art, un?" The blonde stood up as to appear more threatening. "How dare you! I won't stand for i—!"

Sasori rolled his eyes and dragged Deidara to the ground once again with the help of Hiruko's tail. "Dammit, brat, shut the hell up! Don't you realize the situation we're in? We're trying to stay _hidden_, you idiot! BE. QUIET."

Deidara huffed, desperately wanting to attack Sasori for the ill words spoken against him. Instead he ducked back down behind the bushes, trying desperately to contain his anger and obey his master.

After another minute or two, Sasori spoke up, keeping his eyes locked on the spies. "Okay...they're very close to us now, and it appears no one else is with them."

"Wooooow, good observation, un. It only took you ten minutes to finally figure that out."

Sasori shot his partner a piercing glare. "Deidara, this is my last warning... We already have to kill two people today, don't make it three."

The blonde's eyes widened as he took in the deeper meaning of Sasori's threat. "Wait, you're saying _we _have to kill two people today? We as in..._both of us_?"

"Yes, both of us, you dim-wit! That's why I said _we_."

"Um, I don't think I'm ready to...kill someone yet."

"Well, too bad, because within the next five minutes, you're going to _have _to be ready to kill someone. That's what shinobi do...at times we have to kill our enemies."

Deidara stared petrified at his master. "Within the next five minutes? B-but...there's no one here to kill, un! You said there weren't any unwanted tagalongs watching us, and besides that, the only ones here are your spies and us!"

"Exactly...we'll be killing two of my three spies. They're of no use to me anymore. Besides, since I'm going to be stuck with you as my partner until one of us dies, I need some new puppets to work on so I don't go _completely _out of my mind..."

Deidara was speechless. He stammered uncontrollably, looking around randomly at the terrain around him. "Y-y-you can j-just throw away p-people's lives like th-they're n-n-nothing?"

"Well, yes, it's not that difficult," Sasori responded plainly. "It's either do or die out here. Now, stay here in the bushes until I call you out. I need to go collect their information..."

As Sasori scooted away, Deidara made sure to stay put, remaining completely still while focusing on nothing but his breathing. He knew that this day would come, that one day he would have to kill people—that's what ninjas do, after all—he just didn't expect it to be so soon...so sudden.

The next few minutes moved by like seconds when Deidara was awakened out of his trance by Sasori screaming, "Deidara, now!"

Without thinking, Deidara jumped out of the bushes to his master's aid, reaching inside his side pockets for a handful of clay.

Sasori motioned to a girl a few feet ahead of him on the right. "Michi! Her! Kill her, quickly!"

Deidara stood frozen in place, staring at the girl that, in a matter of seconds, would be his first murder victim. He analyzed her, allowing his emotions to, once again, take over. _This girl...she...she had a life once...she has a name...Michi. She's tall, has dark brown hair and bright orange eyes, looks only about eighteen or nineteen years of age...and I bet she has dreams, too...dreams...dreams that will never come true...all because of me. She probably has ambitions...secret hopes that she'd kept in her heart since she was young. How can I kill something that...something that hasn't served its full potential yet? How can I just relinquish someone's right to live their own life?_

Deidara looked to his left as Sasori easily finished up his own battle, piercing his spy's heart with a thin blade that was equipped with Hiruko. The defeated man fell backwards, limp and useless, on the ground next to the third spy as he watched—a man in his early twenties with gray hair and glasses.

With a quick gulp of air, Deidara turned his attention back to his own battle. He molded pieces of his detonation clay into two large inchworms, sending them around the girl, tightening their grip around Michi's throat. The blonde bit his lip, holding back the burning tears forming in his eyes, and yelled, _"KATSU!" _With that, an explosion with a radius of about ten feet burst out, and Deidara watched silently as the girl was ripped apart, reduced to nothing but a pathetic pile of ash.


End file.
